Double chamber charging device for a shaft

ABSTRACT

A lower chamber is defined between two charging bells suspended on longitudinally movable shafts. The upper chamber contains a rotatable hopper. The means for rotating the hopper are mounted wholly within the upper chamber.

[ Mar. 26, 1974 United States Patent I191 Mahr [ DOUBLE CHAMBER CHARGING DEVICE FOR A SHAFT Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Ren Mahr, Luxembourg, Luxembourg 2/1967 Tsutsumimw,..,.....,....,... 4/1910 Kennedy...

Schneider Primary Examiner-Robert G. Sheridan Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern [22] Filed:

Appl. No.: 147,593

ABSTRACT eev. mmw h mm Ca h e OSwm Wk u b 0 3 80% Wmtr. a m bl l or. M N wm nm m. 1 r. Hum e eb thm .mbm a wm b mwm p ad m hnm u e r. P o SCf 6 t mm mwmm .1 Abumw 7 7 2 9 1 m WV 6 1 m mm Um "N an n mu mm L u D. mm m a I u r 0 C F a M U1 1.] 0 211 3 55 [58] Field of Search 214/35 R, 36, 37; 266/27 3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENIEDNARZB m4 3799.869

SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR RENE MAHR DOUBLE CHAMBER CHARGING DEVICE FOR A SHAFT The present invention relates to a charging device for a shaft furnace and is particularly applicable to blast furnace operating at a high'top pressure.

Shaft furnaces, particularly blast furnaces, are usually equipped with a device for the distribution and dispersal of the raw materials for charging (iron ore, flux, coke), which is normally a hopper open at its upper end and two charging bells. The smaller of these two bells is situated at the lower end of the distributor hopper and serves as a base part for the hopper, while the larger bell, situated at a lower level, controls the release of the burden into the furnace.

In cases where the shaft furnace operates at a high top pressure, traditional charging systems using a single chamber, partly delineated by the two bells, present problems of gastightness and resistance of parts to abrasion. The customary solution to these problems is to use a double chamber charging system, that is to say, two gastight chambers, the lower of which is defined between the two charging bells. A

PRIOR ART ]tributor hopper, of which the base part is constituted by the smaller bell, a gastight casing, having at its upper end the necessary orifices to allow the raw materials to pass into the hopper, with these orifices being further provided with sealing devices to ensure the gastightness of the casing.

When these devices, which are the most widely known of the double chamber systems, are used, the suspension means of the bells and in some cases of the hopper and also the rotating device of the smaller bell, the hopper, or the distributor spout, pass through the wall of 'the upperchamber. The problem of the sealing of the packing around a shaft or a pipe which can both rotate and move longitudinally is difficult'to solve.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a double chamber charging device for a shaft furnace ensuring'a satisfactory sealing of the upper chamber.

The present invention provides a charging devicefor a shaft furnace, comprising an upper chamber and a lower chamber, the lower chamber being defined between two charging bells suspended onlongitudinally movable shafts, the'upper chamber containing a'rotatable hopper, in which means forrotating the hopper are mounted wholly within the upper chamber.

The'packingat theupper end of 'thechamber then only comes into contact with one suspension shaft,

'whichtravels along its longitudinal axis. The sealing of thispacking is therefore very effective.

In accordance withthe-inventiomthe device controlling the rotation of the distributor system may comprise an antigyratory device,forming part of a'shaft carrying the distributor hopper and destined to give the necessary support to prevent a gyration of the distributor hopper and a motor system ensuring rotation by means of an appropriate transmission.

An advantageous variation of the device in accordance with the invention comprises two motors which are symmetrically arranged with respect to the rotational axis of the hopper'thereby balancing the stresses to which the device is subjected.

The invention will be described further, by way of examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a charging device on the upper end of a shaft furnace, illustrating two positions of the upper bell; and

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1, showing the means for rotating the hopper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Since the vertical motion of the charging bells forms no part of the present invention, it is not described here. It is, however, described in my copending application Ser. No. 147,592, filed simultaneously with this application.

The drawings, which are not to scale, show a distributor hopper 1 fitted in a manner described and claimed in the above application, with a guiding device 2 enabling it to move vertically and a centrally driven rotation device 3. The distributor hopper l rests by its own weight on a base part 4, which tapers upwards, and serves as a wear-resistant protection cone for a bell 5 referred to as a small bell. A larger bell 6 referred to as the large bell is arranged in the usual manner, as to define a gastight chamber 9 between the two bells 5, 6. The wear cone 4 and the two charging bells 5,6 are mounted on shafts which are lowered and raised from above the furnace.

A gastight casing 7 surrounds the distributor hopper '1; this casing 7 rests and is fixed in a gastight manner on an upper ring-shaped part 8 of the chamber 9 situated above the large hell 6 and is closed at its lower end by the small bell 5. It has at its upper end inlet orifices l0, fitted with sealing devices '1 1, for the purpose of ensuring thegastightness of the casing 7 and a gastight cover 12, arranged around the suspension shafts of the bells and communicating with the gastight chamber enclosing the hopper l. The sealing of the system at the place where these shafts pass through the upper wall of longitudinal movement. The device 14 carries two electric motors 16 of the armored type driving by means of a transmission hollow suspension shaft 17 of the wear -cone 4. When the main suspension shaft 15 is raised or lowered, the rotating system which is fixed to this shaft also moves, taking with it the suspension shaft 17 of the wear cone 4, to which it can also impart continuous or intermittent rotarymovement.

The antigyratory device 14, on which the motors 16 are mounted, is a framework fixed to the longitudinally movable shaft by a sleeve 18. Two arms 19a, 19b extend from the sleeve 18 and at their free ends are connected to two bars 20a, 201). These two bars are coupled to two further bars 21a, 21b, respectively, by couplings 22a, 22b respectively. A horizontal support 23 extends between the lower ends of the bars 21a, 21b, and carries the two motors 16, which are symmetrically arranged with respect to the central shafts. Thus, the antigyratory device 14 connects the motors 16 to the non-rotatable shaft 15 so that they can rotate the shaft 17.

I claim:

1. A charging device for a shaft furnance including means defining an upper chamber and a lower chamber, a rotatable hopper in the upper chamber, the lower chamber being defined between upper and lower charging bells, longitudinally movable shafts passing through the hopper, the charging bells being suspended on the longitudinally movable shafts a base between the hopper and the upper charging bell serving as a wear resistant member for the upper bell, said base having a configuration to close the lower part of the hopper from the rests thereon, said hopper containing a charge and preventing the charge from coming into contact with the upper chamber, and means operably related to the hopper for rotating the hopper, said rotating means being mounted wholly within the upper chamber.

2. The charging device as claimed in claim 1 in which one of said shafts is non-rotatable, the means for rotating the hopper including a framework connected to said non-rotatable shaft and drive means mounted on the framework.

3. The charging device as claimed in claim 2 in which the drive means include two motors arranged symmetrically with respect to the rotational axis of the hopper. 

1. A charging device for a shaft furnance including means defining an upper chamber and a lower chamber, a rotatable hopper in the upper chamber, the lower chamber being defined between upper and lower charging bells, longitudinally movable shafts passing through the hopper, the charging bells being suspended on the longitudinally movable shafts a base between the hopper and the upper charging bell serving as a wear resistant member for the upper bell, said base having a configuration to close the lower part of the hopper from the rests thereon, said hopper containing a charge and preventing the charge from coming into contact with the upper chamber, and means operably related to the hopper for rotating the hopper, said rotating means being mounted wholly within the upper chamber.
 2. The charging device as claimed in claim 1 in which one of said shafts is non-rotatable, the means for rotating the hopper including a framework connected to said non-rotatable shaft and drive means mounted on the framework.
 3. The charging device as claimed in claim 2 in which the drive means include two motors arranged symmetrically with respect to the rotational axis of the hopper. 